The centre of Prague certainly has many legends and stories associated with it. This is quite obvious; the centre is older than the outskirts so it’s reasonable to expect more legends here.
Not too far from the House of the Golden Wheel, another building has a relief of a golden hive with golden bees buzzing around it merrily. The scene seems to be an image of the countryside – bees, trees, a shining sun with a few clouds above. If you look closely, you can even see a crescent moon ascending.
Harmless enough, isn’t it?
In the fifteenth century, a German called Christian Rosenkreutz founded an order called The Rosicrucians1. This name, along with his family name, means “Rose Cross”. He set this up together with disciples who were well versed in Christian mysticism. Their mission in life was to study the religious and scientific teachings of the day. We’ve all heard stories about how religious leaders prevented people from being educated so this order must have been a secret one – similar to the Illuminati.
Once they established themselves in the south of Europe, they came into contact with Islamic mysticism – Sufism. Legend has it that the Rosicrucians used this fusion of East and West learning to gain superhuman powers. They could speak directly to God, they used their alchemical knowledge to create the philosopher’s stone and also learnt the secrets of immortality.
Prague has many alchemist’s symbols hidden amidst its streets and alleys. Maybe this influenced the Rosicrucians, or maybe it influenced the legends that grew around them.
They soon faded away into anonymity and became secretive, but their rituals did influence Freemasonry1 when that developed later on in Europe. They no longer are as secretive as this, as their website explains.
Many Rosicrucian illustrations from these days have images that are similar to the one on the relief of this house. Symbolically, the world is under the protection of the two main protagonists: the Sun and the Moon. The hive represents the Great Lodge where the Rosicrucians carry out their work, implying that the bees are members of the order.
Today the building is in the centre of a pedestrianised part of Prague. Waves of tourists ebb and flow around the place and some even stop for refreshments at the ground-floor restaurant without realising that the original owner had such an illustrious vision placed on his facade.
Share this with someone who likes legends and mysticism!
- Rosicrucian; Encyclopaedia Britannica; (Retrieved 2019-06-27) [↩][↩]